Cutting Drug Abuse in the Workplace

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, alcohol and drug abuse has been estimated to cost American businesses roughly $81 billion in lost productivity in just one year?$37 billion due to premature death and $44 billion due to illness.

Although the rate of current illicit drug use is higher among unemployed individuals, approximately 77 percent of current illicit drug users in the US are employed.  This averages out to be roughly 7 percent of the workforce. 

Gary Smith, the Executive Director of Narconon Arrowhead says, "Substance abuse needs to be addressed literally in all sectors of society.  That is why we work not just with individuals, but coalitions, churches, schools, unions and corporations large and small."

Narconon Arrowhead is the nation's largest and most successful private residential drug rehabilitation and education program, which uses the drug-free methodology developed by American author and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard.

The Department of Labor's Working Partners reports the highest rates of current illicit drug use and heavy drinking by occupation are by food preparation workers, waiters, waitresses and bartenders.  These are followed by construction workers, service occupations, and transportation and material moving workers.

In addition, individuals who are current illicit drug users are also more likely than those who are not to have skipped one or more work days in the past month, and up to 40 percent of industrial fatalities and 47 percent of industrial injuries can be linked to alcohol consumption and alcoholism.

In an effort to curb some of this behavior in the federal government, additional drug-testing procedures are being examined to possibly incorporate this year.  The alternative procedures such as testing samples of sweat, hair and saliva vary from standard urine sampling, which can be obscured or altered to throw off current tests.  Sticking to national figures, this means the latest estimates of drug-using federal employees comes to about 105,000 and having new procedures could help reduce that number.

The new push to get a more accurate account of drug users employed by the federal government is believed to spark similar changes in private businesses. 

Many businesses today have a drug-free workplace policy, which is a set of rules and regulations dealing with the prevention and detection of drug-using employees.  Companies often have or work with Employee Assistance Programs (EAP's).  EAP's provide direct or referred services to deal with issues such as substance abuse or other problems in the workplace.

Employers and EAP's alike are continuously searching for effective measures to reduce current drug use and prevent it in the future, and programs like Narconon Arrowhead are striving to meet the demand by offering effective drug education and awareness seminars for employees as well as their comprehensive drug rehabilitation program.

To find out more about Narconon Arrowhead or to get help for a loved one in need, call 1-800-468-6933 or log on to www.stopaddiction.com.

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